GX Australia Funded Overnight With Room To Spare

The last couple of days have been excellent for the organisers behind GX Australia, who will be able to proudly say they are running the country's first LBGT gaming convention after their crowdfunding campaign ticked over their $50,000 goal with 24 hours remaining.

At the time of writing the convention had raised $52,958 from 439 backers, which is an impressive average of $120.63 (rounded down) per backer. That's more on average than Star Citizen, and it's an indication of just how much money people are prepared to put up to get another gaming convention (and a LBGT one at that) happening in Sydney.

It's also an indication of how top heavy the pledges are. 2 have put in $3,300 or more; 4 stumped up for the $1,100 tier, while another 4 pledged for the $500 or more VIP dinner tier. 19 people pledged for the Indie Alley Tier, which is a $440 or more tier. If all of those 29 backers pledged at the bare minimum, that's still $21,360, more than half of the original $50,000 goal.

Comments

I'm glad to hear this. After reading the comments the other day, I was concerned. No one straight knows what it's like to be gay or Bi and we shouldn't pretend otherwise. Instead we should be supportive, but there are people out there who are a danger.
The point of this convention is for there to be a safe environment where people of like minds can have a good time enjoying video games.
If you don't like it, then stay away, it's seriously that simple.

As for this segregation bull crap, they're not banning straight people from going to this convention. They just want a place to feel safe. Isn't that all anyone wants? When you think about the harassment cosplayers have been coping at late, the segregation excuse doesn't hold up. And it's just that, an excuse.
I was incredibly disappointed in Kotaku Aus the other day. Please try to think about it from their perspective before you speak.

One more thing, gay bashings still happen, homophobia is alive and well in this day and age. Wouldn't it be great if the gaming community were the people that said "no more"? Don't forget in some countries and even in Australia, gay people are ignored by their families and sometimes even killed. Can you imagine the fear these people have to put up with? Please, please, please, think before you say things. Everyone is fighting an internal battle, say nice things and feed the good wolf.

Well said. It is incredibly hard for anyone to understand just how different the world is when you don't fit into the normative ideals that society portrays (knowingly or unknowingly). I hold my head high and am proud of who I am but it doesn't hurt any less when society around me completely disregards my existence at all (from a TG perspective) or of the struggles of the LGBTIQ community as a whole from many different aspects.
I would love to put my hand up to volunteer for such an event (PAX included). The geographical barriers combined with funding restrictions however mean I get to read about it instead.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I scrolled down to the comments on that first article and read the pure ignorance being spewed by so many people. It was mind blowing. Goes to show all the problems we still have honestly. I'm kind of glad though, it made me so angry that I went ahead and backed the project even though it looked like it was about to fall short of funding. Happy to see they made it.

Too bad the event is in Sydney. I guess I'll read about it on Kotaku from here in Melbourne.

I didn't back it because I was poor. If I wasn't, I could have helped. The above comment is my contribution and I'm hoping the supportiveness of the gaming community lets anyone struggling know that the homophobic loudmouths are few and far between and that their attitude is not welcome.

I was a critic of the event but I still backed it and support the idea well before it had appeared on Kotaku as well as the increased education and awareness it brings. I also live in Melbourne but am travelling over to make the event since I've heard such good things about GaymerX. (a friend of mine worked in one of the booths and said it was their favourite event) I simply didn't think expressing specific criticisms invalidated my support, my money or the message. I'm not really sure I saw a lot of ignorance either, I can definitely see the problems (there's one guy here downvoting everyone for showing any support at all then crying about anyone disagreeing with him) but I see a problem when any criticism is seen as "ignorant".

We have a lot of buzzwords today that we seem to apply EVERYWHERE to describe moments of dissonance to us but little consideration is seemingly given to how they are applied. I just hope in the future we have less generalising and more listening, it'd be really great to try and separate those with progressive, constructive critique or perspective from the peddlers of hate, even just once. I get tone, I get that what I've written doesn't spew support - but I also see that at no point it invalidates it - they have my support, they have my empathy but no one gets to rename the definitions of words just because they don't like something.

Sorry, as a bisexual woman leaning heavily towards lesbian it's hard for me to keep a level head about comments such as those seen in the previous article.

It plainly is ignorance though to talk about something and describe the actions that a community should take when they clearly have nothing to do with said community and have only an outside perspective of the problems LGBT people face on a day to day basis. To say that gay people have no problems displaying physical affection in public is plainly ridiculous.

When I was with my ex-girlfriend, while I wasn't afraid of being bashed, we couldn't hold hands or hug or anything in public without being constantly leered at and cat called and trust me, that gets old extremely fast. If we held hands while walking down a public street, 1 out of every 50 passing guys (which is pretty damn frequent honestly) would say something stupid.

Plus the fact that the gaming community is littered with homophobic slurs and female harassment (I couldn't even join clans without people being assholes) is it a wonder that there is a communal need for an LGBT oriented gaming convention?

Also, comments like "Let's hold a straight gaming convention!" were really clever and well thought out.

I'm glad you're supportive, but I don't understand how you fail to see the ignorance. Perhaps you too are someone who only views the LGBT world from an external point of view and do not have any close gay friends. It makes sense that some people may think LGBT people have little to no problems these days but it doesn't give them the right to tell us what to do when they have no idea.

Hey there, I'm the co-director of the event. I'll admit I didn't read the comments in the previous article because it became pretty clear that it wasn't going to be productive to do so, but we're very happy to hear about any concerns/criticism/suggestions/ideas that anybody has about the event. If you don't mind repeating yourself, what specifically were you critical of? I'm happy to see what we can do to address any of that where we're able to.

The somewhat ironic thing though is that the people who are most against GX are the people who most need to go so they can be educated about what it is like for the people they torment and to see that LGBTQ people aren't threatening anyone's way of life or trying to convert anyone.

No one straight knows what it's like to be gay or Bi and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.Hmm, I'd argue that while strictly speaking that's true, there are many other forms of discrimination that straight people can go through that would give them a fair idea of what it's like. It's also presuming that all straight people have never experimented with alternate sexual orientations. Not saying you're wrong though, most people don't tend to think outside their bubbles and while you can be sympathetic in a lot of cases, there's still a degree of separation and safety.

Each form of discrimination is different. The results of generally making people feel bad is similar, but we need to remember that their discrimination also includes things like death threats, bashings and many other horrible things. The only closest thing I can think of is probably racism. I'm not saying the plight of Gay and Lesbians is superior, I'm just saying it will be difficult to comprehend what most of them have been through.

As for the education, some people will struggle with that. It's hard, as if you try and force them, they'll see it as threatening.

People having a different opinion to what you think is not cringe worthy. Its commendable. Not everyone needs to agree with ideas. It dose not mean they do not agree with the principles of the idea, just the idea it self.

I am all for gay marriage. BUT I do not see the need for badly thought out, sexist and, in some cases, racist ideas to be used to push it.

Its like white ribbon day being ONLY for domestic abuse against women by men I feel like that is EXTREMELY sexist. What about the women on women or men on men or women on men abuse?

Your not gay, your not bi, your not straight. Your a person. Stop acting like your any different from any other person on the god dam planet, simply because you sexual preference is the minority. Your not. You never will be. You never have been. Aprt from one thing, you are the same as everyone else, but you think becuse of that one thing, it means your entitled to something.

I would say more, but I think I said everything else in my other post, and probably said it better than here too. You can find that rant over here: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/11/why-australia-needs-a-queer-gaming-convention/comment-page-1/#comment-3544513

The "you're a person" approach is interesting and commendable. The first time couple of times that I had people come out to me, my attitude was so what, why are you telling me this? I don't care what you get up to in the bedroom.

But it's more than what one does in the bedroom. It's who one associates with, holds hands with, kisses, buys a house with, raises a family with, grows old with. Many of these are very public and very official things. Every adult in society deserves to be able to do them with another consenting adult, without fear or favour.

Unfortunately, the thought that someone might be anything other than straight has been a source of innuendo for centuries. Ofttimes, this innuendo could lead to very real ostracism and violence for the person in question. In some countries, it still does legally. I guarantee there is still a large part of Australian society that would cringe at gay people holding hands, but would think it's sweet if a heterosexual couple did.

People owning this piece of their identity is a part of normalising it in society. If a conference like this is a step towards gay people feeling as accepted as straight people, then it's a fantastic thing.

Being accepted as gay is one thing. Having a gaming convention that is focused on the fact that its for gay/trans/pan people is a another. Gaming convention should be about games, not what sexual preference you are.

If it was a fully fledged gay/trans/pan convention that was about educating people about why they can't change, or other issues, then I would be all for it. But its not that.

If it was a games convention that said sexism and racism will get you kicked out, then, again, I would be for that. And I am pretty sure that most conventions have rules like that anyway. Not sure though, as I have never been to one. lol

My problem is that it is not that. Its a GAMES convention that is using the gay rights stuff as a way to attract people to it, and that is ethically wrong, even if it has the right ideas behind it. Just because something sounds good, dose not mean it is.

Its kind of like all the feminists saying we need 50/50 men to women in workplaces. It SOUNDS good, but it will never actually work, even if its brought in by law. Its even sexist to have such a thing, as you would be hiring people on the bases of if you have enough men or women in your work place, rather than on the bases of who is actually going to be able to do the job. It all sounds great, but realistically, it will never work.

I strongly disagree that a games convention using gay rights stuff as a selling point is ethically wrong. But I don't have any eloquent arguments to sway you. All I know is that it's easier to be supportive of a group's well-intentioned plans than it is to be upset about them.

(I should also point out that I disagree that white ribbon day is extremely sexist - yes, domestice violence happens between any combination of sexes, but it's about raising awareness of the vast majority of domestic violence cases).

The point is that it is a gaming convention where people are allowed to be openly gay. They're not using it to try and draw in crowds. I don't see any notices saying "No straights allowed". The whole point is to create a place where people who enjoy games and may be gay, don't have to worry about being prosecuted.
Have you actually asked a gay person why they would like this convention to happen?

Whilst I don't think it's necessary for it to be marketed as a LBGT event I am glad to see humans getting behind it. If you're a gamer, tech geek, lover of comics, movies or just pop culture in general then we're going to get along fine. that's all I care about when attending such an event, that's all anyone should care about when attending. That's what the events about right? not your sexual preferences.

I don't know, it looked sketchy for a bit there. I backed it after reading the Kotaku article out of spite for the people in the comments (really, I wouldn't have backed it if I wasn't so mad haha). I think it's pretty impressive they got over $10,000 in the last 48 hours.

The thing is, a couple of pages of comments doesn't really represent anything. In this social climate where an alleged 72% of Australians support same-sex marriage (fuckin' Tony) I wouldn't expect anything less than a slew of support.
And it's not just people who want to show how progressive they are; a convention is a great place to advertise, so you'd expect advertisers to throw their money into the hat, too.

Certainly, a convention based on identity politics isn't my cup of tea, but if people want, they'll fund it. And they did!

Out of just your last 25 posts, you've had a whinge about Fallout 4, World of Warcraft, the Playstation Vita, Republic Commando, Dying Light, Ubisoft, Counter-Strike, Elder Scrolls Online and gay people. Have you considered that maybe this site isn't for you?

Again, nobody's saying you have to agree with everyone (or anyone). I'm just suggesting that since most of your posts are complaints or short pointless messages like 'k', 'csb' and 'ptu', that it seems like you're unhappy here. Sticking around somewhere you're unhappy and bringing other people around you down in the process isn't a particularly intelligent choice.

Story time! I went to an all-girls’ school. My friends and I had that special bond of closeness that apparently comes with synced-up periods and measuring the length of each other’s winter leg hair.
This, obviously, led to a brief era of trying to catch one of the others unawares with the most impressive, most unexpected spank possible. We’re talking sneaking up behind each other in the hallway and laying one down that made the earth shake. If I couldn’t read your palm from the imprint, you weren’t doing a good enough job.